Reaper with remorse
by irvinethearcher
Summary: Pursue and purge fugitive traitors! Normally a routine job for Rafaella, the cold and composed cleaner of the organisation, but this time the target is special in every way.


Rafaella was sleeping in the darkness of a cave. She awakened when she heard a sound.  
It was Rubel. This smelled like dirty work as always.

What's up, rubel? Rafaella asked.

Normally rubel always had this smirk on his face but not this time.  
It must be something important, rafaella thought.

Rafaella, you have to take care of two fugitive warriors from sirius island, rubel answered.

Sirius was a lateral branch of the organisations head quarter perhaps 30 miles away from the east cost. Rafaella hasn't been there nor had she ever felt the desire to visit it either. She knew that the org made many of their dirty little experiments there.

The matter is urgent, even rimuto seems to be uneasy about it, rubel said.

My gain? Rafaella asked.

As always, information about luciella of the south, rubel answered.

Like those you gave me the last years? About her food pattern, awakened beings she had wasted and her normal area of habitation? Rafaella asked cynically.  
I am not sure if i am still benefiting from our little agreement, rubel.

It is not the fault of the organisation that luciella kept a low profile all those years.  
But if you want to break with the org, fine, we can't prevent you from doing it, but think about your sister, Rubel answered now the first time with a smile on his lips.

You know that i will do anything to correct my mistake but i am not a soulless killing machine.  
To dispose of that former number two, which had no arms left and couldn't even find a decent warrior's death, was nothing which drove tears of joy into my eyes, Rafaella hissed.

She was a deceitful traitor of the organisation, you did a splendid job rafaella, rubel responded with a now even more slimy grin than before.

Yeah, yeah, somehow i knew that you would say something like that, rubel. I never could read you well, for me you are an artful bastard, just the same as your friend ermita. But at least the information on luciella you gave me, even through they were useless, were always correct . Nothing else matters, rafaella answered.

That's my good girl, rubel responded not showing his surprise that she knew about ermita and his connection to him.

Spare me with your adulation, rubel, let's come to business. I need their strengths, weaknesses, their abilities, ranks, names everything.

Project 6B, rubel answered.  
As you perhaps have found out by yourself, after your failure we began to rely on twins instead of normal sisters to perfection the soul link. Because of the danger, we trained our soldiers on a separate island. And as you know best by yourself, the weakness of the soul link, the weakness of the one who has to suppress, should stay a secret. Sadly, most of those twins became mad, committed suicide or awakened and ran amok, those lesser numbers indeed had a hard time. But fortunately our two top dogs alicia and beth have proven very docile and compliant so far. Probably because we have learned from the mistakes we have made with the other, weaker pares and used that knowledge to train and condition alicia and beth more effectively. We are very proud of them.

Rafaella looked disgusted at him and thought about those zemas twins she had heard from in that town years ago.  
How many twins survived your training except from alicia and beth, rafaella asked.

Only one pair, rubel responded. But they have developed rebellious traits and aren't fit for battle or able to be soldiers any more, therefore we sadly had to lock them away in some dark cell in order to prevent them from harming innocent human citizens.

There are no civilians on sirius, rafaella interrupted him.

Rubel ignored her and and continued his briefing.  
Unfortunately, he began to speak again, they escaped and are now here on the main land and certainly not in a good mood.  
Instead of merging into one spirit, with no consciousness on their own like alicia and beth did, they spliced their personality in two halves and became two sides of the same coin. Therefore they won't be able to soul link and became useless to us. Rya is the one who engages her enemies in battle directly, relying only on speed and brute strength, she is very honest, perhaps even naive and her behavior is straight forward. Alva on the other hand is more the deceitful type which relies on yoki manipulation tricks and her sensing skills. She was the suppressor during the soul-link training. Both can be measured at the level of a normal number three of our organisation and are offensive types.

I won't do it this time - too risky, Rafaella answered. Why don't you send your obedient puppets to do the cleaning?

Because there is no other option right now and we are running out of time, rubel answered. Isley has joined forces with that newcomer and still has Rigardo. He amasses many of his former comrades in the north. We are still working hard in order to complete alicia and beth before it will be to late. And Riful has that former number 3 dauff by her side. I think your sister will be the main target of annihilation in the soon coming struggle, she is alone and outnumbered.  
I doubt you will quit, now that things are finally put in motion, Rubel answered.

Okay, I'll do it, Rafaella responded reluctantly.  
Do they have knowledge of the meds? Rafaella asked him.

No, we never used those on our subjects. Shortly after their arrival at the main land they have killed some of my associates, it was a bloody mess. After that the organization had lost contact with the twins again.

Don't you conceal something important? How did they manage to escape from sirius, rafaella asked?  
I know that the cells are made of the same indestructible material as the swords.

You gave the answer to yourself my dear, someone has opened the cell and set them free, Rubel answered.

Did you find the traitor? Rafaella asked annoyed.

It was the claymore who should guard the cell block. We found her in the cell and outside and on the walls, Rubel responded sarcastically not trying to conceal the truth anymore.

Alva..., Rafaella murmured.

Alva has even for a number three an extremely huge yoki pool and in her dark cell she had a lot of time. Using her own sister as a guinea pig she must have learned to advance her skills far beyond mere yoki manipulation, rubel explained.  
Can you handle them? Rubel asked desperately trying to sound at least a bit concerned.

Yes, thanks to your unhesitant willingness to share your intel with me, rafaella answered sarcastically. It will not be as easy as with that number 2, but i will get the job done. But this time, deliver some useful information or we are done, rafaella answered.

Okay, we have an agreement then, rubel smiled knowing that rafaella would never terminate her contract with the organisation. A day ago Galatea sensed them from far near the south cost but didn't dare to to track them any further. She feared to be detected by alva's yoki sensing abilities, rubel informed her.

One last question rubel, rafaella said.  
What is it about that little troublemaker number 47, who has suddenly vanished and everyone is searching for? Should i take care of her too? rafaella asked.

Good informed as always, aren't we, rubel answered seemingly surprised. No, he said, we want her alive, therefore galatea is entrusted with that task.  
Rubel lifted his had and vanished just as unremarkable as he made his appearance.

Suddenly rafaella felt pity for those two. Weren't they like herself and her sister? Only some poor pawns used by the organization? Despite she beliefed that the org was needed against the yoma, rafaella had seen many questionable things the organisation had done during the last years. She was the oldest and one of the mightiest living claymores and had build up a solid wall of distrust against the org. But she was also obsessed with bringing her sister back , driven by her own guilt, she knew that she would sell her own grandmother for intel on luciella. The moment she was gone a part of herself was gone with her. She wanted, she had to be complete again. This was more important than any ethics or rules. So she took off to the south.  
She travelled fast and silently. She had trained a lot in all those years and after all she had a lot of time to kill. Not only time, she thought.  
After a day she arrived at the south cost near godahl plateau where she intended to spend the night. From here she could oversee everything and easily sense those twins from a far if they would intend to go north. In the distance she saw something glittering in the evening sun. A claymore of a fallen warrior rammed in the hard rock. When she finally arrived at the grave she could see that an inscription was made in the rock below.  
"Eternal sunrise for rosemary - theresa".  
Rafaella remembered. Rosemary was once number one, before theresa of the faint smiles time. A black card? Theresa and rosemary were friends? Rafaella wondered.  
She intended to sleep inside of a dell a few meters next to rosemaries grave.  
As always she had a light sleep and a lot of nightmares. Sleep was her only weak spot, during sleep she was vulnerable to sneak attacks from bandits or sometimes she feared even from pawns of the org. Perhaps she was simply paranoid but she knew better than anyone else, that in the organisation everyone was expendable. At dawn she awakened because she sensed a strange yoki aura in the distance. First it was far away and fragile. But when it was near enough rafaella recognized that it actually wasn't a single aura but two with the same signature only close to each other. Target identified! They must have traveled under the cloud of night and were now coming straight to godahl plateau, to the highest point, to her. She waited like a spider in the web.  
Why the hell do they come exactly to this plateau, she asked herself. She could see them now from her dell. They were both tall and beautiful women with long hair, wearing brown cloaks.

Oh my god, rya what are we doing here, alva asked.

Watching the sunset, rya responded.

Sentimental as always, alva answered twisting her eyes in disgust.

The sun began to rise and her golden streams penetrated the clouds. rya watched them fascinated.  
Alva was bored and dug a hole in the ground with her claymore. Have you seen your stupid sunset sis, can we go now?

No wait, wait it is wonderful, rya responded. Despite being locked away in the darkness for so long you still feel nothing?

Gosh, sometimes i want you to make you cut out your own tongue with your own sword but too bad i would feel your pain too, alva replied.

Look, a claymore, she is glittering so nicely in the sun as if she was positioned there on purpose. Who would have left it alone stuck in one of those rocks? What a waste, rya wondered.

It is a grave, stupid one, don't go on my nerves. Let's go. This whole land seems to be polluted with the likes of us, awakened beings and those nasty yoma. We are fugitives and soon or later we will get killed anyway. They will find our sig and then we are done for. Let us have at least some fun, enjoy our freedom, the fresh air, the sound of the birds and find some of those black coated bastards and torture them to death, alva explained.

Simply killing them should be enough, rya said.

I want vengeance! We should let them eat their own eyes for containing us in that dark shit hole, alva answered.  
By the way, what have we here?

Alva had discovered a black snake who was lying in the morning sun on one of the rocks trying to warm herself up. Rafaella recognised her as a deadly viper called "the black death" by the locals.  
Alva was going straight at the viper provoking the still a bit frozen animal. The snake attacked but was way to slow.  
Missed me, alva laughed. Look rya i have found a new pet.

Let it be sister, it is only an innocent animal, rya responded.

No one is innocent, alva answered.

Just in this moment the snake bit her in the hand.

See sister, i was right again, alva said to rya.

The snake bit again and again but Alva was only laughing.  
She catched the animal who tried to bite her a fourth time with two fingers of her injured hand.  
See, you are way to slow, alva told the helpless snake, but you had your chance and now is my turn.  
She ripped the snake in two and began to drink the blood dropping from the tail. Then she squashed the head of the still alive snake with one of her boots.  
Want some breakfast, she asked her disgusted sister.

Suddenly they heard a voice behind them.  
Convenientely there is room for two other graves nearby. So you can enjoy the sunset everyday together.  
My name is rafaella, number 5, hereby you will be purged by orders of the organization, rafaella explained.

Rya released her yoki near the limit and attacked immediately after rafaella had finished her little teasing. But to ryas surprise rafaella blocked her effortlessly and tossed her several meters away on the ground.  
Calm down rya, alva said, she is something else. You didn't even recognise that we can't sense her.

Suddenly rafaella got a headache feeling some kind of strange pressure in her head trying to knock her out.  
At the same time rya attacked her again. Rafaella suddenly remembered what rubel had told her about alva and at the very last moment she was able to pary the combined surprise attack of the twins by somehow sealing her mind. Damn, despite i am fully carnouflaged that little brat was somehow able to soul-link at me. They nearly got me. But it won't work a second time, rafaella thought.

The second attack ot the twins was indeed futile. Rafaella warded rya's sword thrusts off with ease, only making some movement with her left hand as if she wanted to chase off some annoying flies.  
Now alva was aware that her mind tricks had no effect on rafaella anymore. Therefore she released her yoki near the limit both attacked her now by conventional means. But rafaella dodged and blocked any of their attacks again with ease.

Is that everything, she asked them?

We can't win, alva said, with despair in her voice and tears in her eyes.

Rafaella suddenly had a bad feeling about this. Just the kind of premonition only very experienced veterans can have and therefore instinctively took refuge behind some rocks.  
Rya suddenly had awakened both of her arms, guided by alva's soul link, and used them as some kind of projectile launchers.

Juust kidding, alva said grinning viciously.

Interesting, rafaella thought hiding in the rocks, they aren't able to do the real deal but at least they made out something of all that training, some kind of makeshift soul link.  
After a time of senseless firing, rya was for a short moment out of steam.  
Trying to use that fake soul-link against me was bad luck but there probably were no cards left to play, rafaella thought.

It is over, rafaella said with a cold voice.  
She stood up clenched her left fist, formed her mind into an iron claw, and disrupted the soul link between the twins.  
Never play a player, rafaella thought to herself.

Immediately rya was in pain and unable to move.  
With all of her strength alva managed to revert rya's arms back to normal but only to see rafaella cutting them both off with a single slash of her sword. With another thrust rafaella's sword went straight through rya's belly and with her last blow she separated the legs from ryas body, pointing with her claymore at ryas throat. Alva, who felt Rya's pain and the exhaustion from suppressing her sister's yoki was panting and leaning herself on the rocks.

Make your move, rafaella growled, i know you won't flee and leave her.

In despair alva drew her sword and attacked rafaella in blind rage, going all out, but she knew already that it was futile. Against this warrior she was nothing more than a victim, not an adversary.  
After an exchange of a few blows Rafaella had cut off her legs too. With tears in her eyes she crept towards her sister, drawing herself forth with her arms. Rya was already unconscious from the pain of the stab wound in her belly and her separated limbs.

Damn, those black bastards were right after all, we're only expendable faillures, alva said to her unconcious sister.  
Spare her, my head alone should be enough of a proof. They will believe you because they know we won't leave each other, she begged rafaella desperately, who was standing now above her. The blood was dropping from her claymore.

Sorry, i fear this noble sacrifice won't work, any last words, rafaella asked with a harsh voice which should hide her bad feelings about this.

See you in hell, bitch, you probably never had a sister, alva spat.

Rafaella kicked her directly in her face and shouted her to be quiet.  
She had to think. She was in conflict with herself.  
She needed the information about her own sis but those two triggered old memories.  
Normally she thought about her sister's fate before she delivered the final blow, it always helped to get the job done. But this time it didn't work out this way.

Damn, this time i should have killed them immediately taking them by surprise. Now it is a messed up situation, rafaella thought to herself.

Alva was laying beneath her feed in the mud, clinging to her unconscious sister, bleeding, trembling, weeping and waiting for the final blow.

What shall i do?, Rafaella asked herself.

A single tear from her right eye rolled inwardly down her cheek.  
After a few seconds she regained her composure and made a decision.

Time stood still for alva, she had closed her eyes and was waiting for the coup de grace and the white light, the never ending darkness or whatever... but instead she only heard that well known sound of a claymore clinging into place and rafaella's cool and composed voice.

Today is your lucky day, because my cape and my clothes have not even a single cut and they are nearly stainless. Wake her up and help her connect her limbs. You do the same. Hurry up before it is to late. And never ever think that you can kill or escape me. Others will take my place, she commanded.

You'll let us go, Alva met her with disbelief.

I have learned some interesting things in this fight.  
Consider your life as a compensation for this knowledge.  
So hurry up before i change my mind, rafaella growled.

She knew from rubel that the org was by now drawing massive forces to the north. The eye was at the moment busy with searching for that strange troublemaker number 47 in the west. During such chaotic times the org simply lacked of manpower to observe everything, especially her movements. The men in black would not be happy that she had lost them. But they finally would have no choice but to accept it, if she only would make it up the right way.  
She gave them suppressants she had collected as some kind of trophies in all those years from suppressed fugitives she had tracked down the old fashioned way without the benefits of yoki sensing. She now wondered that those little things suddenly would be of some use at all.  
She ordered rya from whom rubel had said that she was very honest, to swear to her to go with her sister north, to sneak through the lines of awakened and claymores, to pass pieta and go straight into the mountains to hide there and never come back.  
And rya, there is something else what has to be done... rafaella finally said.

A day later she met rubel near rabona at the meeting point.  
Rubel immediately distrusted her report.

I don't believe you that you have lost their signature. You let them go and told them about the meds. We are finished with you rafaella, no more information about luciella, it seems i really overestimated your intelligence and underestimated your emotional involvement, he said.

Rafaella intended to protest but a voice interrupted her.  
Suddenly one of rubel's underlings had appeared.

Rubel, sorry to disturb your meeting, but you should hear this.  
Those twins attacked number 40 and number 24 on their way to pieta, interrogated them and found a few meds they had left from older missions. They forced them to eat one of their suppressants because they were curious about what they do. After that they knocked out several other warriors and stole their meds too, he reported.

Damn, in the future we will not allow the warrior anymore to keep the meds they have left from undercover missions and something like that. Excuse me for what i have said earlier my dear, rubel said to rafaella. Hm... you could have told them to search for those pills but i know you to well as that you would lay your sister's fate in the hands of some unpredictable strangers. It seems you really told us the truth, rubel sighed.

Rafaella exhaled relieved and intended to leave. These twins can wait, rubel said, i have another mission for you. Galatea failed too, no reliance in those days. Therefore you will help me find number 47 and number 9 who is probably with her, understood?

Rafaella nodded and left the meeting.

Before she went to sleep she thought about what she had done.

What happened to your left eye and why do you helping us, alva had asked her before they have left.

You were wrong, rafaella had answered, i have a sister as well.

At night rubel met with ermita in a dark alley of rabona.  
He told ermita about the meeting with rafaella.

Nice that those sirius twins could somehow get away, rubel.  
And you belief her, ermita asked?

I seduced her because i gave her the information that galatea was searching for clare on purpose.  
Therefore, despite everything she said seems to be credible and despite the reports, i still don't believe her, rubel said.

But why did you let her get away with it then? Not that i am unhappy with the outcome but you are responsible for rafaella and in the end you will be called to account too, ermita explained.

First, i assumed that rafaella could cover it up in a decent way. Second i think i know what her true goals are, rubel explained.

And those are, ermita asked astonished.

She never released her yoki, never healed her eye because she believes the soul of luciella is still residing inside of her, rubel said.

But this is common knowledge. She wants to honour the memories of her sister, everyone of the org with some Intel on her case knows that, ermita answered.

She don't want to kill luciella, as rimuto and the others believe and i first believed too, rubel said. I think she somehow intends to revert luciella's awakening. Rafaella hopes that she can take her on in an weakened state and perform the soul link with her after luciella fought one of the two other abyssals.

But this is madness, ermita said.

Exactly, she will probably awaken or even something worse could happen to her and luciella, rubel explained smiling.

Something which could produce a lot of chaos, ermita answered and began to understand.

The mountain air was clear and thin, the stars were shining and the northern lights alienated the sky in an spectacle that has happened in the same way since millions of years. For a human being every breath would feel like eating a bunch of poisonous needles and surviving only one night outside in the cold or in a cave would be a damn hard job. But rya and alva weren't human beings so the thin air and the brutal iciness were nothing more to them than a warm summer night to normal people.  
Despite that fact, Alva was shivering in her sleep.  
She was dreaming. The same nightmare she had last weak.  
She heard the screams of fear around her. Screams of males in black robes.

Out of control, pull her back, you have to make her return, nooooo it is to late, they yelled.

Shit, go back, go back go back ..., go back, ryaaaaaaaaaa, alva heard herself screaming.

Then suddenly she felt it, the icy claw of the monster grabbing for her sister's warm soul inside of her own head, painful like a glowing brand. The sight of her left eye became black followed by an overwhelming itch and the madness. Eyes are the windows of the soul, someone once had said, but this window now was broken, the cold came in, the warmth leaked out, therefore she had to seal it immediately she had to preserve...

Alva wake up you are having this nightmare again, damn i can't sleep either when this happens, rya was screaming and shaking her.

Rya you are here, still human, thank god, alva murmured.

The fire was still crackling peacefully but alva's whole body was steaming. The steam was condensing on the ceiling of the cave to glittering crystals reflecting the bonfire.

Alva, the dream, what happened, can you remember anything, rya asked hugging her sister.

Alva was still not fully awake.

Soul was leaking out, you were gone.  
Damn, felt so real, you have awakened, those men were yelling around me, ...i couldn't stop you, ... wanted to scratch out my eye.  
God damn it, this creeps the hell out of me. I don't say this often but i am so glad you are still alive and kicking, alva answered rya who looked worried at her sister.

Did something like this ever happen when i lost consciousness during our training at the island, rya asked her.

No, never. We never went that far, after the splitting of our personality in two we were discarded and locked away. But why ... wait, alva responded with a faint voice.  
Some of those black bastards mentioned a name, what was it? alva asked herself.

Calm down sister, it is over i am here, try to remember, rya comforted her.

Alva had calmed down, the sweat on her forehead and her face was already frozen and coated it now like an icy mask.

Ra-fa-e-la, she murmured.

What?, Rya responded

The name was Rafaella. The name of the warrior who spared us.  
When she disrupted our soul link, her spirit touched me for only an instant.

do you want to say those are fragments of her memories, rya asked.

Rya, your brightness disturbs me, alva said faintly smiling but soon began to speak again in a serious voice.  
She probably used those memories against my mind to disturb the link between us.  
I believe by now her sister is the only reason we are still alive. Remember she was a master of yoki suppression and trained in soul-link otherwise she would haven fallen for my trick.

Did her sister awaken during a soul link experiment, rya whispered as if she was afraid of the truth.

It seems rafaella was a failure too, alva murmured.

This is bad, rya answered.

I am sure she dreams about it every single night. For her it is like a goddamn curse and when she awakens... she is all alone, alva responded.

Will she ever get over it, rya asked her smart sister who was showing an atypical level of concern.

No dreams in the grave, alva responded.  



End file.
